Ryan Sutton has seen the Viking clap on TV before. His new Canberra Raiders teammates have told him about it too.
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But nothing compares to the moment he stood in the tunnel and heard 14,031 euphoric fans standing and clapping in unison at Canberra Stadium to welcome the Green Machine onto the park for another NRL campaign.
The round two crowd is Canberra's second best return for the opening home game of the season since 2010, and it is perhaps made even more impressive considering the Raiders were lugged with the 6pm Friday timeslot.
The outlier was their 2017 home opener against Cronulla, when 15807 fans turned up still riding the highs of the preliminary final appearance just months earlier.
The Raiders ultimately fell short in Sutton's first home game but they have a chance to make amends when they meet the Newcastle Knights at Canberra Stadium on Friday - again in the 6pm timeslot.
"Being in the tunnel before the game and hearing the Viking clap is really good, it gets you up for it," Sutton said.
"I’ve seen it as well, but looking at it in person compared to on the TV, it’s a bit different. You can hear the horn go, that’s the first thing you hear and I’m thinking ‘what’s that?’
"Then you can hear them all clapping, it does get you riled up. You want to go out and have a good start, and unfortunately we didn’t do that, so we’ve got something to improve on this week."
The Raiders are likely to be without Joe Tapine but the back-rower is still awaiting answers on his thumb injury after seeing a specialist on Monday.
The New Zealand international's absence could pave the way for Sutton to earn more minutes should coach Ricky Stuart decide the Englishman is ready to handle a heavier workload.
"At the minute I am still new to the NRL, so I understand it is going to take me a few weeks to get used to the pace of the game and whatnot, but I’m ready to go whenever he is ready to put me on," Sutton said.
"I’m always looking at the clock thinking ‘when am I going to get on?’ I’m happy to go whenever. We spoke about [our slow start against Melbourne], our first 20 minutes has got to be our best.
"If we can start well and finish well, that’s how the game goes. We've just got to meet fire with fire in the middle and on our edges, so that is definitely a point for us to go into this game."
NRL ROUND THREE
Friday: Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights at Canberra Stadium, 6pm. Tickets from Ticketek.
